The present invention relates to a padded cap for use on the footrail of a waterbed frame.
Although waterbeds have become increasingly popular and sophisticated in their design, most still use a conventionally designed wooden frame to contain the water filled mattress. Campian, U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,351, describes on example of such a frame. A well-recognized problem with the typical waterbed frame is that the wooden rails are uncomfortable for the user while sitting or while entering or exiting the bed. Consequently, a variety of slip-on padded rail caps have been developed to address these problems. Examples are described by Fisher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,871; James, U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,039; Wakeland, U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,887; and Johenning, U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,602.
However, conventional footrail caps, commonly referred to in the industry as a "perch", have been unreliable in their overall construction and method of attachment to the footrail. Such caps are typically one- or two-piece units attached by a simple L-shaped bracket made of angle iron. In such a configuration, a significant portion of the load is transmitted directly and exclusively to the screws which secure the L-shaped bracket to the cap and rail, rather than being distributed throughout the cap and rail. What is needed, then, is a footrail cap which has mounting means adapted for distributing loads throughout the cap and rail to increase the strength and durability of the cap as a whole.